Joseph herrburger



(No Model.)

J. HERRBURGER ACTION FOR GRAND PIANOS.

No. 559,706. Patented May 5, 1896.

TMSSES. I

$6M MM UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH IIERRBURGER, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

ACTION FOR GRAND PIANOS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 559,706, dated May 5,1896.

Application filed March 4, 1896- To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JosEPH IIERRBURGER, a citizen of France, and aresident of Paris, France, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Actions for Grand Pianos, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to an improved action for grand pianos, and hasfor its object to decrease the amount of frictional contact between thejack and repeating-piece and the knuckle of the hammer, so that alighter and more powerful touch is obtained.

The invention consists more particularly in pivoting the rider to itsrail, not at its end, as heretofore, but at a point intermediate betweenthe rider-post and the supporting-button for the repeating-piece. Inthis way I can so place the rider-pivot that a straight line drawn fromit to the hammer-pivot will pass through the contact-point between thehammer-knuckle and the jack when the hammer is at half-course. Thus thejack and knuckle swing in the radii of two tangential circles, andtherefore their contact is of the most perfect kind and the jack willnot begin to slide away from the knuckle until it touches itsregulating-button, thereby giving the action great power.

The accompanyin g drawing represents a side elevation, partly insection, of my improved piano-action, showing the hammer at half-course.

The letter (L represents the rider of a grandpiano action provided withthe post I), to which is pivoted the repeating-lever 0, havingsupporting-button (Z.

c is the jack that engages the knuckle f of the hammer g, pivoted to itsrail at h, all as usual.

IIeretofore the rider a was pivoted by its flange j to the rail 1' atits end-i. e., at the rear of the supporting-button cZ-so that suchbutton and the post Z) were placed at the same side of the pivot. Ipropose to change this construction and to pivot the rider to its flangej at a point it between the button cl and the post Z). This point is soselected that when the hammer is at half-course a line drawn from thepivot 7a to the pivot h will pass through.

Serial No. 581,731. (No model.)

the contact-point m between jack and ham- 5o mer-knuckle. In otherwords, two circles drawn around the centers 70 and h with radii 7a m andhm, respectively, will tangent at m. Now it is clear that as the jack 6and knuckle f are carried around the centers 70 and it, respectively,there will be a rolling but not a sliding movement of the knuckle uponthe end of the jack and upon the repeating-piece until the jack isbodily drawn away by its button 0, and consequently the friction betweenknuckle, repeating-piece, and jack is greatly reduced and the touch islightened. Moreover, as the knuckle does not move or swing away from thejack, but rolls upon it, the action retains its full power untilescapement is effected. The hammer-cushions are not placed upon therear'of the rider, as usual, but a continuous cushion-rail n is placedupon regulating-screws 'n, permitting the rail to be regulated up anddown and attached inde- 7o pendently to the frame of the action a shortdistance back of the rider. This construction is adopted for the reasonthat the rear end of my rider vibrates through an arc of considerableextent and would therefore not form a proper or stable support for therail.

That I claim is- 1. In an action for grand pianos having a hammer andjack, a rider pivoted to its support in line with the hammer-pivot andalso with the contact-point between hammer and jack, substantially asspecified.

2. In an action for grand pianos, a rider pivoted to its support betweenthe supporting-button of the repeating-piece and the rider-post,substantially as specified.

3. An action for grand pianos having a rider pivoted to its supportbetween the supportin g-button of the repeating-piece and therider-post, and a hammer-rest placed back of 0 the rider, substantiallyas specified.

Signed at Paris, France, this 15th day of January, A. D. 1896.

JOSEPH IIERRBURGER.

lVitnesses:

I'I. WETZ, R. GERVAI,

